By Vurdlak on June 15, 2011, with 170 Comments
After 9 years of struggle, finally I have graduated my University and obtained master’s degree in telecommunications. It feels like someone lifted a giant boulder off of my chest. Yet somehow I already miss this boulder. It made me feel I belong to something, I could’ve identified myself as being part of a student body… Anyway, now that you know the big news, let’s see what m.ee. Vurdlak has prepared for you today!
Try and focus on the right (sharp) part of the photo on your right. The photo shows something that resembles two lighthouses, but I can assure you it would’ve worked even if the motive was carrots. After some time the image has changed, and the right lighthouse turns blurry. You’ll get the impression the left lighthouse is now sharper than the right one. In reality the new image contains two identically blurred lighthouses. Not sure if I managed to explain this well enough, but I can assure you this illusion deserves some extra attention!
(110 votes)
I would like to speak with someone concerning a project I am developing with the use of illusions. Could someone please write to my email address & either leave me your phone number so I call you to discuss the specifics and legal that may be involved in mounting my project.
I could also send you my telephone number as a response to your email to protect my privacy as per this correspondence. Thank you, Kenneth J Wyrtch
I think you need more than 2 brain cells to understand this one but I get it :)
Agreed, the right image does blur also but the point is that at the point when the right image blurs it is actually the same blurriness as the left image however the illusion makes it appear that the left image is sharper than the right when focusing on the right side only but in reality it never is! …confused? …give in! lol
Congratulations on your masters degree. I worked 8 years (while holding a full time job) on my bachelors degree. I know exactly how you feel about being relieved and somehow missing it.
this is a GIF image – NOT an illusion I am afraid :(
they both take turns in being blurry-no illusion x
big congrats on your graduation!
you must be really out of ideas, because you have already done an something similar to this
When the left LH becomes clear the right LH appears to be more blurry than the left one. But at that point they are equally blurry.
Well done on your masters!
As for the others commenting I think they might need some more education, namely reading…
If you read the post they didn’t say the illusion is that the right lighthouse becoming blurry. They said that the right image becomes blurry and the left image goes from extremely blurry to the same level as the blurred right image. The illusion is that even though in the second phase both images are blurred identically, the right image looks more blurry than the left.
It is a very subtle image though
This is obviously a .gif file… This illusion is a scam
This is a little confusing to insomniacs like me but is the illusion that when the left image changes to sharper it’s meant to look less blurry than the right though it is in fact identical.
The point is that the one on the right blurs!
It makes the left one appear not blurred.
read the intro?
This one does not seem like an illusion to me. Instead the image itself is actually changing. It does not matter which lighthouse you focus on, they still alternate between blurry and focused.
Not an optical illusion.. as optical illusion asks the picture to remain the same so this is done with some computer generated altering cuz it shifts into 3 different frames
in the second frame, the right one is supposed to blurr. If you read it, it says that the second frame both pictures are blurred equally but the left picture appears sharper.
Hi everybody, I’m afraid not everybody did understand the REAL illusion: in the first step, left image is blurred and right image is sharp, that’s clear so far. In the second step BOTH images are slightly out of focus, in the same way, i.e. they are IDENTICAL, even though slighly out of focus! So what’s the real illusion? If you watch them carefully, you may believe that one of the two “identical” images is more sharp than the other! Guess which one? That’s the reason why everybody is fooled, believing that the RIGHT image is out of focus, when indeed BOTH are IDENTICAL!
For my next illusion; if you stare at these words long enough, they will form a sentence.
I think I get it. Let me try to explain. The image consists of 2 lighthouses and a star in the middle. If you focus on the star in the middle and without moving your eyes from it but be aware of the right, “sharper/focused” lighthouse and the “blurry/un-focused” lighthouse. The image changes after a few seconds and the image on the right becomes a little blurrier and the one on the left a little shaper but both images are now the same focus. If you watch the change happen a few times the left lighthouse seems more in focus than the right lighthouse.
I do telecommunications.
I think what he means is, if you stare at the one on the right, when it goes blurry, it looks as if the one on the left is crisper than the one on the right…as if they switched places. Don’t stare at the star, and don’t actively compare images. Just stare at the one on the right.
I hope that’s not too confusing.
Also, congratulations for achieving your goal of a Master’s Degree! Quite an impressive accomplishment!!
Doug and Nick did not read the description at all.
The illusion is that when the right one turns blurry, the left one will ‘appear’ sharp. However the left one is still at least just as blurry as the right side becomes.
It flashes so it changes.
I suppose if the details of the lighthouse were a little bit clearer, the “blurring” of the image at the right would be more noticeable.
i^_.~’
Wow nice illusion.
Congrats on getting Masters…. you could always go for PHD if you miss being a student :)
I just about get the illusion… the trick is to let your vision go soft on the right light house and they both go blurry.
This isn’t an illusion, it’s just a gif file.
Sarah, the illusion is that when it switched, it appears that the left tower is now sharper than the right, even though they are both the same.
The illusion is this:
There are two light houses one blurry one clear.
Focus on the lighthouse on the right.
When the light house on the left is blurry you will see the light house on the right as being clear.
When the lighthouse on the left changes (to be the same image as the lighthouse on the right) the clear image (on the right) will then appear blurry.
It is an illusion, as well as an animated gif. amazing how one thing can be two things!
Agree. I see the same. This is not an illusion.
Just want to say I love your site and I’m so pleased you’ve got your Masters’.
if I stare and concentrate I see 3 lighthouses and 2 stars and all three appear clear and not blurry. guess I have strange eyes and a vivid imagination.
An ‘animated’ gif pretending to be an illusion. Look at each tower individually through a hole in paper.
I saw three lighthouses also and two stars. I guess it’s what you focus on. that matters. i must have strange eyes, too i saw them very clearly. And my imagination is very vivid.
i think tht it looks cool considering the fact tht i am still in college studing the same thing
Fail!
If you compare the two images on the right (I did) the “blurry one” is actually not as sharp as the second one.
The concept is true sharpeness is very subjective… but this one is gimmick.
This is actually a pretty good illusion if you do it properly. For those of you who aren’t getting it, the description is a bit misleading.
There are two pictures alternating periodically. The first image show the lighthouse on the left very blurry and the one on the left very clear. The second image shows both lighthouse a bit blurry. The trick to this is to stare at the star, not the lighthouse. When the both lighthouses are slightly blurred, your peripheral vision fools you into thinking the left is slightly more focused than the right.
I think this is a great web site….but this is not an illusion. It is an animated gif file.
This is not an illusion, cover up the left side image and you will notice that the other still changes. Fake.
Congrats on your being graduate
Hope after 4 years i too have this feeling
Congratulations on getting Masters! :)
Cool illusion.
You do belong to something, you belong to this website!
:)
Congrats on your Masters XD
Gr8 Illusion as usual
It’s a fake. Hide the left part. Tou’ll notice that the right part changes by its own. reverse is also true.
Some of you clearly don’t understand the point of this illusion. When the right house is sharp and clear, the left side is very blurry. When they change, they are the same amount of blurriness; but if you’re doing it right, the left one appears to be sharper, even though it’s not. And some people seem to think that an illusion has to be somehow natural and not created on a computer. Anything that tricks your eyes into seeing what is not there is an illusion whether it occured naturally or in a static image, or in an animated one.
If you do the stereogram thing with this illusion, the middle lighthouse is sharp.
Probably a clue as to how it works.
Congrats on the degree.
Whoa, irfanview info says:
GIF – LZW – 2 images
Image changes at regular time intervals. Will see if I can print one image later and I bet that this “illusion” will not work.
Sarah is correct!
It’s fake! If you cover either half of the picture, the remaining one still blurs then returns to focus
Pasted to Serif Draw as pic, stopped working (as I predicted) without both pics
Love the website
Moderator: feel free to throw away my first comment and/or my second comment or to add the last two together and post. First comment is junk. Middle lighthouse goes fuzzy, sharp, fuzzy if viewed as stereogram.
hi, that is cheating, it is a gif animation.
if you cover the right half of the image, you still see the changes on the left.
anyway, nice try!
I thought this was a really cool illusion but after a short time I realised that it’s not an illusion at all. You can prove this by putting your hand over one side of the picture.
Even without the aid of the other picture both left and right sides shift from blurry to clear. The GIF tricked me for awhile though.
Congrats on getting your masters though, and I love your site.
Reply to “Dave”
and anyone that does not understand this
Illusion,
It looks like most people do not understand exactly what the “Blurred Lighthouse Illusion” is and what the actual directions say to do. A lot of people are saying it’s not an Illusion because it’s a GIF and the pics change! Well to start, THE PICS ARE SUPPOSE TO CHANGE!!!!!!!
I have tried to think of an explanation that is simple to understand exactly what the Illusion is and how to see it. My description is below. I hope it helps and thanks for taking the time to read it!!!!!!!
Both images are on a loop: Each pic alternates between being in focus, then Blurred. When the right Lighthouse pic changes to blurry, both pics are then IDENTICAL at the same time. Although both pics are shown at the same time side by side and they are IDENTICAL, the left pic looks more in focus than the right pic.
Okay, that is the entire Illusion! The Illusion itself is very short and not at all difficult to see, but for some reason it is VERY, VERY hard to explain and describe!
Congrats – takes work – and yes you will miss it.
Love your site!
you can do better than post flashing fuzzy pictures
The actual illusion is as follows:
Initial set up is a Super-blurry left image and a super clear right image. Then it switches to both images being identically partially blurry.
However, if you stare at the red star, then when they switch, the illusion is that: the left image SEEMS perfectly clear and the right image SEEMS super-blurry. When in fact they are both identical at that time.
well, congratulations for your master degree in telecommunication! I was curious to look at your university but the link sends to the candle and the mirror illusion page! wrong link or what? i was telecommunicated in an other place…! congratulations again, grown-up-now-dropped-out student!
Congratulations on your great success! I’m currently enrolled in college too, and I feel that bolder almost everyday. I’m not even through my first year yet, so I have a lot of bolder lugging to do. Good luck in your future!
I feel like I’m totally missing something. I see the pic with the clear pic on the right, then it goes to a blank white, then back to the same. I never see either image change sharpness. :(
Congratulations on getting the Masters! Enjoy the ease of pressure. The pressure will build again soon enough when you start studying for your PHD.
Fasinating illusion. The way our bodies work constantly leasves me flabbergasted.
I don’t see it at all, they’re both as sharp/blurry as each other. The only reason the one on the right goes more blurry is because I’M NOT FOCUSING ON IT. As soon as I do, they both look the same.
Wowing illusion!
I really don’t get this one
Illusion : Concentrate on the star.You will see first light house blur then the second one blur..This is happening simultaneously…
Explanation: During right light house blur, try to out focus from the star and quickly compare both images…you can see both images having same resolution.
It looks like most people do not understand exactly what the “Blurred Lighthouse Illusion” is and what the actual directions say to do. A lot of people are saying it’s not an Illusion because it’s a GIF and the pics change! Well to start, THE PICS ARE SUPPOSE TO CHANGE!!!!!!!
I have tried to think of an explanation that is simple to understand exactly what the Illusion is and how to see it. My description is below. I hope it helps and thanks for taking the time to read it!!!!!!!
Both images are on a loop: Each pic alternates between being in focus, then Blurred. When the right Lighthouse pic changes to blurry, both pics are then IDENTICAL at the same time. Although both pics are shown at the same time side by side and they are IDENTICAL, the left pic looks more in focus than the right pic.
Okay, that is the entire Illusion! The Illusion itself is very short and not at all difficult to see, but for some reason it is VERY, VERY hard to explain and describe!
Fake illusion, nice. x_x
Cover the left one and you’ll see the right one change on its own. Q_Q
mmm… I think this is fake as well. If you cover the left one you can obviously see that the right one changes every few seconds
hmm, I think this is fake as well. If you cover the left half of the .gif you can see that the right side
Its not an illusion . Both the left and the right images are animated gif image. Just cover one image and see the other uncovered image.Do it for both left and the right image. You will find out what i am trying to say.
crappy
Congrats on your Masters degree, great website also
THIS IS BULL. ITS NOT AN ILLUSION ITS ANIMATED AND IF U BELIEVE IT U NEED TO JUMP FROM THAT BUILDING.
thats sweat iz likes it
wait wait wait cover the blurry side…. watch as the one side changes from normal to sharp! thats cheating… its docent really even work…. >: (
i first covered the right as to see the that left blurry side does switch over, as its supposed to. Whats supposed to happen is when the left switches over the right seems blurry all of the sudden from the sudden change in contrast. unfortunately when i covered the left, i saw that the image on the right changes to slightly blurry, not an illusion at all, but cheating. not an illusion at all.
the illusion has to with how our eyes adjust to images blurring and then sharpening.
whats supposed to happen as stated is that we think the left lighthouse looks sharper than the right once the pictures change.
frame 1: lighthouse on the right is sharp and the left is blurred a lot.
frame 2: lighthouses are both blurred equally but the left one appears to be sharper than the right because that it isnt as blurry as in frame 1.
If you hide the left picture, you will notice that there is a change in the right picture, this is not an illusion, the right picture is really changing.
I tested this one. Phillip is correct. Right click and check image properties. This one is a gif. If you cover one side or the other, both sides will still change because the image is animated and is really actually changing. Sorry, but this one is a fail…
it is fake i covered up the left side and noticed that the right side will actualy blur
if u guys notice actually the left picture blurs and de-blurs every few seconds no matter whitch one u stare at, its set up that way to trick ur mind……..nice try tho guys ;) very clever =-p =-)